► AUTOMATIC ABATEMENT & JURISDICTIONAL NULLITY
Automatic Death & Abatement:
Defendant No. 1 passed away on 16/06/2014 (as per the official MCGM Death Certificate).
By operation of Order XXII Rule 4 CPC, the suit automatically abated upon the expiry of 90 days on 14/09/2014.
Illegal Substitution Without Delay Condonation:
The Plaintiff sought to bring legal representatives on record via Exh. 58/59 after a massive, unexcused delay of 296 days, without filing any application for Condonation of Delay under Section 5 of the Limitation Act or Setting Aside Abatement under Order XXII Rule 9 CPC.
Exh. 58 bears court fee stamps cancelled only on 18/04/2015, while Exh. 59 falsely claimed on oath that death occurred "last month".
Legal Consequence:
As settled by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Gurnam Singh v. Gurbachan Kaur [(2017) 13 SCC 414] and Union of India v. Ram Charan, an abated suit cannot be revived without condoning the delay through a formal statutory application.
Allowing substitution on 16/08/2017 in a dead/abated suit was completely without foundational jurisdiction (coram non judice), rendering the entire impugned judgment and decree an absolute nullity.
Court judgement ?
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